


Why Do You Skate?

by TripCreates



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Skating, Canon Related, Fluff, Free! Starting Days Spoilers, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, Middle School
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2016-09-18
Packaged: 2018-08-15 11:27:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8054530
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TripCreates/pseuds/TripCreates
Summary: Makoto has been acting differently towards Haru lately, causing Haru to think he’s going to quit figure skating. But he wouldn’t do that, would he? (Basically a reimagine of the makoharu pool scene in Starting Days)





	Why Do You Skate?

**Author's Note:**

> Wooo here we go kicking off [makoharuweek 2016](http://makoharuweek2016.tumblr.com/)!!! 
> 
> Written for Day 1: AU
> 
> I'm so freaking excited for the week and especially for this fic right here. I've been tossing this skating au around for a bit and this is just a small taste of what's to come for it. 
> 
> This particular fic came about from a conversation between me and Rie. I love that pool scene so much and had to think of a way to work it into this larger au idea so we ended up with this. 
> 
> I really hope you enjoy! All kudos and comments are much appreciated.

Haruka climbed the steps up the hill to his house. It was a lonely walk home since he had to stay late after practice and Makoto left early without him. He was surprised Makoto didn’t stay but then again, he had been acting strange toward him the past few days. It wasn’t like Haru meant to stay late. Coach Sasabe wanted to talk to him about the upcoming season since it was Haru’s first time at the Junior Level and there was a lot to start preparing for it. Haru had little interest in what he had to say because he didn’t care about competitions. That’s not why he skated.

He came to Makoto’s house and stopped, gazing over at it, feeling this unexplainable ache in his chest. Things felt different between the two of them and it was starting to drive Haru crazy. It wasn’t like Makoto to not speak to him or not walk to school with him like that morning. He’d never been this distant before and it was starting to worry him. But Haru had a feeling he knew what was causing this behavior.

Despite being the same age, Makoto had to wait another year before he could compete at the Junior Level since his birthday was after the July first cutoff. Haru remembered how sad Makoto was when Coach Sasabe said they wouldn’t start competing together. Makoto was the one who seemed more interested in competing. Why else would he have been upset when he learned that? That was one possibility for why he was acting different toward Haru and he was worried it might be enough to make Makoto stop figure skating.

Along with figure skating, Makoto was also playing hockey since that’s what his parents first introduced him to when he was younger. It was only after Haruka started figure skating that Makoto joined that as well. It kept Makoto quite busy, dividing his time between the two sports, but he never complained and he still made time for Haru. The hockey club at school kept trying to get him to join the team but Makoto always turned them down. What if the yearlong wait from competing made Makoto decide to pursue hockey instead? Haru knew Makoto was friends with most of the hockey team and would fit in just nicely with them if he joined.

Haru did not want that to happen. It meant getting to see his best friend less as they no longer would practice together as they went their separate ways. Of course he would still support Makoto in his decision and go to his games to watch him play. He was still his best friend but that didn’t mean it would hurt any less.

Haruka readjusted the strap of his gear bag. He thought about ringing the doorbell to see if Makoto was home but turned away to look back at the steps in front of him. Would Makoto even want to see him right now? If he did, Haru didn’t even know what to say to him, so he decided against it.

He continued up the steps until he reached the landing for his house and stopped in his tracks. Makoto was standing there in front of his house.  His gear bag was next to him on the ground. He must have gone straight here after practice to wait instead of going home. This was unexpected.

Makoto looked up at Haruka as he heard him approach. He’d been waiting there for him to talk but now that he was there, all he could say was, “Haru.”

Haruka didn’t reply as he stared at him nor did he move from his spot.

Makoto took the initiative to keep the conversation going. “What did Coach want to talk about with you after practice?” he asked.

“Just some competition stuff,” Haruka replied.

Makoto nodded and said, “I should have known.”

“What doing here?” Normally, Haruka never questioned why Makoto showed up uninvited at his house. He was always welcome at the Nanase house but with the way Makoto had been acting lately, he wanted to know why.

He watched Makoto’s eyes widen, apparently caught off guard by the direct question.

“I wanted to talk to you,” he replied softly.

Haruka’s grip on his bag strap tightened. There was only thing Makoto would want to talk about that he could think of. He dropped his gaze to the side, staring at the ground, and said, “You want to quit figure skating.”

“What? Why do you think that?” Makoto asked, confused by Haru’s assumption.

“It’s obvious isn’t it? You’ve been acting strange since Coach Sasabe said you had to wait a year to compete,” Haruka replied, still avoiding looking at him.

Makoto took a few steps toward Haru, closing the distance between them. “Haru, why do you think that?” he asked again. His friend wasn’t making any sense.

“Because you’ve been avoiding me and then I saw you talking to the hockey club’s president the other day at school. If you quit figure skating and focused on hockey, you wouldn’t have to wait to compete,” he replied.

Makoto gazed at Haru and didn’t reply. His silence caused Haru to slowly look back up at him. Now Makoto was able to see the hurt swirling inside of Haru’s eyes. He had to fix this and make the hurt go away. He was then struck by an idea. He ran back to grab his bag and sling it over his shoulder as he rushed toward Haru again. Without any explanation, Makoto grabbed his hand and started pulling him down the stairs.

“Come with me, Haru!”

Haruka had no clue what Makoto was doing but had no choice but to follow, trying to keep up with him so he didn’t trip. He called his friend’s name but Makoto wouldn’t answer. As they reached the bottom of the stairs and continued on, it didn’t take long for him to recognize the path they were taking.

 

They reached the Iwatobi Skating Club and Makoto led them around to the back entrance that was usually left unlocked. They slipped inside and hoped no one was still there. Getting caught would not be good and ruin Makoto’s whole plan.

The building was dark and silent as Makoto continued to pull Haru behind him to the rink. His steps were quick, feeling anxious in the dark hallways. The skating club was like a second home to Makoto but that didn’t keep him from getting scared by the dark building. Once they reached their destination, Makoto flipped on the lights, illuminating the ice before them. He instantly felt better now that it wasn’t so dark. He then dragged Haru down to the rink and released his hand once they were in front of it.

“Makoto, what are we doing here?” Haruka asked, watching him sit down and pull his skates out of his bag.

Makoto looked up at him and smiled. “We’re going to skate of course.”

Haruka glanced from him and over to the freshly smoothed ice next to them. It was too good to resist. He dropped next to Makoto on the bench and pulled out his skates. He was quick to put them on and lace them up. He realized neither of them were properly dressed for skating but what they wore should be good enough for what they were about to it. This probably wasn’t going to be a serious skate anyway.

Makoto stepped up to the entrance and opened the door. He removed the guards off his skates and dropped them on the floor as he stepped out on the ice. He turned around and waited for Haru to join him, holding his hand out to him.

Haruka didn’t need any assistance getting onto the ice but he took Makoto’s hand anyway. Makoto gently pulled him across the ice next to him and kept his gaze on him as they started to skate. It was quiet except for the soft scraping of ice underneath them.

Haruka still wasn’t sure of what was going on with Makoto but he felt the tension in his body slowly ease as they skated. It always had that kind of power to calm him down. When he was on the ice, nothing seemed to matter anymore. Haru would skate all day if he could.

Makoto of course knew this and it was one of the reasons he brought Haru here to talk to him. He hoped he could get Haru to listen to him. They continued to skate hand in hand until Makoto pulled away. He put more force into his movements and skated ahead of Haru. He loved the feel of the ice under his feet just as much as the other boy did and he couldn’t resist going around the rink at least once.

Haruka hung back so he could watch Makoto skate. It wasn’t often he got to see Makoto skate alone without his partner and Haruka was enjoying it. He thought Makoto could do very well as a singles skater instead of in a pair but that’s how he wanted to skate. Makoto had a unique style that came from the fluidness of figure skating and the powerful force of hockey. It was beautiful to see and Haruka wished more people paid to Makoto’s skating just as much as they did his own. He didn’t like all the attention he got for his skating. He was aware of the natural talent he had but it wasn’t fair to all the other skaters that put so much effort into their skating.

Makoto continued to glide across the ice, doing some simple turns and spins. Haruka soon joined him as well with a little more flourish to his moves, no longer able to contain himself. He was conscious about keeping enough distance between them so they didn’t skate into each other.

They flowed well around and next to each other on the ice. Every now and then, their eyes would meet and Makoto would smile every time. It was a new experience getting to share the ice like this together and Makoto didn’t want it to end.

After a few minutes, Makoto approached Haru and held both of his hands out to him. Without hesitating, Haru took his hands and let Makoto pull him into a spin. Makoto kept his gaze locked on Haru and couldn’t stop smiling even if he wanted. He’d always wondered what it would be like to skate with his best friend like he did with his partner, so he was taking advantage of the moment. Skating together as a pair would be a dream come true but this was probably the closet he would get.

 

Neither of them knew how long they were out on the ice and stopped once their legs began to tire. Makoto was the first to reach the entrance, as usual, and grabbed his guards. He slid on one before stepping off the ice and repeating. He picked up Haru’s and waited for him.

Haruka stopped in front of the door and took the guards. He slipped one of the first blade and took Makoto’s hand as he stepped off the ice. He quickly put on the other guard and let go of Makoto’s hand. This was always their routine every time they got off the ice. Makoto was always there to help him off the ice.

Haruka made his way over to the bench as Makoto closed and locked the rink entrance. He then joined Haru, sitting down next to him and kept his eyes ahead of him on the ice. Haruka kept his eyes ahead of him as well but he was happy having Makoto next to him again.

They sat in comfortable silence, staring ahead of them, until Makoto spoke.

“When we entered middle school, I thought I would change,” he began. He turned his head to face Haru as Haru looked his way. “I soon realized I didn’t want anything to change. I liked things the way they were. But it seemed like that wouldn’t happen after Coach told me I had to choose between figure skating and hockey. If I want to compete, I have to stop playing hockey to be able to fully focus on my figure skating training. It’s impossible to do both and not let my figure skating suffer.

 I was a bit sad about that because I like playing on the hockey team. I wasn’t sure what to do, so Coach asked Nao-senpai to talk it over with me. As he did, he asked if I would still like figure skating if you weren’t skating as well.”

“He did?” Haru asked, surprised. That was a personal question to ask someone but he was very curious to know the answer himself.

Makoto nodded as he slowly turned away. “I never thought about it before. Do I like figure skating or hockey more? My parents wanted me to do hockey so I did it, but that’s not something I can do with you. So, did I only want to do figure skating because I wanted to be with you? I didn’t know,” he said.

“Is that why you were avoiding me?” Haru asked.

Makoto winced at his words. “I didn’t mean to but when I’m around you, it’s harder to figure out what I’m really feeling, so it was difficult for me to be around you. But I guess you thought I was avoiding you, huh?” He turned and locked eyes with Haru. “I’m sorry, Haru,” he said, putting all of his emotion into it. He really didn’t mean for Haru to feel like he was avoiding him.

Haruka held his gaze before looking away. “It’s okay. I’m sorry, too.” He knew he could have done more besides being so passive about the situation but they both knew communication wasn’t his strong suit.

Makoto smiled and looked back ahead of them.

“Well, did you find your answer?” Haruka asked. He was hesitant to know the answer but he had to know.

“It’s both, I think,” he replied.

“Both?” That didn’t make much sense to Haruka.

Makoto nodded. “Yup. At first I didn’t confident in my feelings about it. I think I was forcing myself too hard to choose what I wanted to do, figure skating or hockey. But here right now, I’m really happy. Skating like that just now made me feel really good.” His eyes looked over the swirling marks left on the ice from their blades. “I really _do_ love figure skating more than playing hockey after all.”

Haruka stared at Makoto, his mouth slightly hanging open. He wasn’t expecting Makoto to pick figure skating.

Makoto turned and met his gaze. “But I want you to be there too.” He fully turned his body, swinging one leg over the bench, so that he could face Haru better. “I love figure skating and I love you too, Haru-chan!” he said, tilting his head to the side and smiled as he closed his eyes. A blush spread across his cheeks. “That’s why I want to skate with you.”

Makoto opened his eyes and looked at Haru, who was remaining silent.

Haruka didn’t know how to respond. He wasn’t good at expressing his feelings or emotions as easily as Makoto did. But that didn’t mean he didn’t feel the same way about his best friend, he just couldn’t voice those feelings. Instead, he dropped his gaze to the floor and said, “I told you to drop the ‘chan’.”

“Right, sorry!” Makoto said, still smiling.

“Also,” Haruka continued. “We’ll keep skating together, of course.” Even though he thought that was obvious, he felt like Makoto needed to hear those reassuring words right now.

As if it was even possible, Makoto’s smile grew even more, his eyes lighting up at Haru’s words. He needed to hear that from Haru.

Haruka dropped his gaze and started unlacing his skates. “Come on, let’s go home, Makoto.”

Makoto nodded and got to work on his own skates.

They swung their bags over their shoulders and made their way back to the door. Makoto glanced back down at the ice before shutting off the lights. Coach Sasabe was going to well aware the next day that some students used the ice rink and would have to smooth it over again before practice. Makoto felt guilty about that as they left but he wouldn’t trade this night for anything in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!!!
> 
> So as I said at the beginning notes, this is part of a larger au I'm working on. I'm in the process of planning and outlining it now so it'll be at least a couple of months before anything is posted for it. It'll take place in high school so for now, this is just a little backstory oneshot. Now, I do want to go ahead and put out there that the upcoming fic won't be just makoharu. It will be makoharurin + sourin with reigisa as well. All ships will get their own screen time and not be solely a makoharu fic. I'm sorry if that disappoints anyone but it's the story I want to tell. I just wanted to give a heads up now so you wouldn't be surprised when the fic goes up after waiting for it. If you do have a problem with my shipping choice, please keep it to yourself. This isn't meant to start any shipping wars. 
> 
> If you liked this and want to reblog on tumblr, use this[ post](http://bartonandmurdock.tumblr.com/post/150570863226/why-do-you-skate-for-makoharuweek-2016-day-1).


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